Saturday, 8 September 2007

Dana White reacts to ProElite's acquisition of Cage Rage

"Really?"

That was Dana White's initial reaction to the news that as he presided over the UFC 75 pre-fight press conference, across London in a plush Park Lane hotel, Gary Shaw has just announced that ProElite had acquired British MMA promotion Cage Rage.

It took barely a second for the shock to disappear though, and the usual bombastic statements came forth.


"They’ll go out of business even faster then!" said White. "He [Shaw] is spending more money while he’s losing a shitload of money, so let’s see, I figured they’d go out of business in April next year – now I’ll give them to March."

White made no bones about his continual digs at the ProElite company (he has called Shaw a 'jaded' ex-boxing promoter) but welcomed the move, saying it would only lead to better things for the UFC. "I goof on ProElite all the time, it’s the dumbest name I ever heard in my life. ProElite sounds like the supplement that killed Anna Nicole Smith.

"We need organisations like that out there to bring up younger talent. We need those smaller organisations."

"They can buy Cage Rage and Combat-this and any other friggin name they wanna buy, but they’ll never, ever come to the UK and make the same commitment that I have here." When asked about his level of investment into the UK scene, White was short yet light hearted in his reply: "If you knew how much money I spend in the UK you’d shit, trust me!"

posted by Fighters Only Mag Editor at Saturday, September 08, 2007 - Read Full Post -